Eskom's History in the Free State

Eskom’s history in the Free State Foreword by the General Manager, Lindi fluence on the development of electricity and the Mthombeni entrance of Escom into the Province. What a great honour to be serving in The Free State skies are illuminated Eskom as we cele- brate 90 years of At an initial cost of £17 405, the first electrical lighting up South Afri- lights in Bloemfontein were switched on on 8 No- ca! Since I joined vember 1900. Although the system had an in- Eskom in 1996, I stalled capacity of 180kW, the steam engines sup- have seen many plied were not capable of continuously supplying changes happening in the installed capacity. With an initial number of 14 the business, but still consumers, the demand for electricity rose quickly there are some things to 535 in 1906. Bloemfontein was the second that remain constant. town in South Africa and the first town in the Or- This is our commit- ange Free State to have electricity and piped wa- ment to keeping the ter. lights burning, our commitment to satisfying our While these events took customers and our commitment to contributing to place, Professor Reinhardt the South African economy. Ludwig Straszacker who Eskom in the Free State has come a long way was to become the fourth and many great men and women have left their Chairman of Escom in 1962, mark in the Province. Amongst these are Allen was born in the Free State Morgan, Spuitjies du Preez, Johann Geldenhuys, in 1910. He matriculated 15 Hennie Oosthuizen, MK (Kenneth) Mohlala, Wil- years later from Vrede High liam de Villiers, Peter Craig, Percy Sechemane, School. Louis Maleka, Alwie Lester and Peter Sebola. In 1915 another use was They left a heritage that we are proud to follow found for electricity when a trackless electric tram and many of them have gone ahead to reach system was introduced, proving the importance of even greater heights in Eskom. This chapter is electricity for economic development. The de- dedicated to everyone who has contributed to our mand for domestic electric appliances also rose history and to all those who are currently investing and led to a series of upgrades to the system. By their time in making the Free State Operating Unit 1921, the total installed generating capacity rose a pleasure to do business with and an Operating to 2 600 kW. This didn’t satisfy the need for long. Unit that can be relied on to provide one of the In 1924 a new power station with a capacity of 6 country’s greatest commodities – electricity. MW was built at a cost of £180 000. History of the Province Although it is the smallest of South Africa’s nine provinces, the Free State has a significant and turbulent cultural history. After many years of Brit- ish rule, the Republic of the Orange Free State was formed in 1854 with its first president being Josias Philip Hoffman. Although politically and economically successful, the Republic ran into chronic conflicts with the British until 1900 when it was annexed as the Orange River Colony. On 31 May 1902 the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed and the Orange Free State seized to exist as an independent republic. In 1910 it joined the Union of South Africa as a province along with the Cape Meanwhile in 1922, the Electricity Supply Com- Province, Natal and Transvaal. The Union of mission, ESCOM, was born. The Electricity Act, South Africa became the Republic of South Africa No 42 of 1922 stated that Escom should supply a in 1961. After the first democratic elections in cheap, sufficient quantity of electricity neither at a 1994, the Orange Free State was renamed the loss nor a profit. Free State. Gold deposits were first discovered in the northern The Free State’s history is not complete if the gold Free State in 1938. This magnificent discovery fields are not mentioned. Besides leading to a led to a significant increase in demand for electric- gold rush, the discovery of gold also had a big in- ity. The power station in Bloemfontein An electrical exhibition to promote the use of electrical appliances From past to present By 1947, an area of about 103 600 km² was supplied by the ROFSU. This included four major Escom’s first plans to generate electricity in the gold mining areas. The boundaries were that of Free State came into being in 1938 when the con- Thabazimbi in the north, Mafiking (today Mafikeng) struction of the Vaal Power Station, about nine kil- in the west, Winburg in the south and Witbank in ometres south of Vereeniging, began. The station the east. Other parts of the Free State were divid- used cooling towers to limit the use of water and ed amongst neighbouring undertakings. took over Escom House’s title of being the tallest building in the country. In 1939 the Second World The Rand Undertaking faced acute shortage of War was declared preventing shipment of three supply in the period following the war. Causes of Lungstrom radial-flo-generating sets from a Ger- this included the exploitations of the Free State man harbour. Two replacement turbines were goldfields as well as the developments in Sasol- manufactured in Great Britain and shipped to burg where the South African Coal, Oil and Gas South Africa. The Lungstrom sets also arrived Corporation, Limited (Sasol) constructed a huge oil when hostilities ended. The station was complet- -from-coal and chemical complex at Sasolburg. ed in 1952 with an installed capacity of 318 MW. Electricity demand from the Free State goldmines The Vaal Power Station started generating elec- continued to rise and by 1949 a demand of 240 tricity for the first time in 1945. Although the sta- MW was prospected by the end of 1955. The tion had no specific supply area, it linked into the Rand system reached a critical point and during vast network of the Rand Undertaking and was 1949 the peak period from 09:30 to 13:30 ap- connected to the Free State goldfields by means proached the entire available capacity, with no re- of a 99 kV transmission line. More applications for serves in hand. This situation forced Escom to mines and towns were received and necessitated grant each mine a monthly electricity quota based an extension of the Escom licence area in the Free on their consumption of the previous three months. State, western Transvaal and Northern Cape are- Through proper management from the mines, the as. This was called the Greater Rand Undertaking mining industry avoided serious impediments to its but was later changed to the Rand Undertaking development that might have resulted from these and then to the Rand and Orange Free State Un- restrictions. dertaking (ROFSU). Vaal Power Station turbines Escom couldn’t ignore the rising demand and from 1952 to 1959, Escom started the construction of eight new power stations, including three stations in the Free State, namely Vierfontein, Taaibos and Highveld. Each of these stuck to 30 MW turbo- generator sets and modest steam conditions. Vierfontein supported Vaal Power Station in supplying the Free State goldfields and the Cape Northern Undertaking. A significant characteristic of Vierfontein Power Station was that it could do “storm governing”. With the Free State being well-known for its violent thunderstorms, the station could disconnect itself Vierfontein Power Station from the rest of the system. It would then ride out the surges caused by lightning striking power lines on its own. Even during the most severe storms, Vierfontein managed to keep the Free State goldmines securely supplied. When Taaibos and Highveld Power Stations were constructed, they were to be the largest and most modern power stations in the Escom system at the time. These stations are situated 0.8 km apart, approximately 32 km south of Vereeniging. By 1963 the stations were running at full capacity and had 916 people working at the two stations. Taaibos Power Station Strengthening of the transmission capabilities be- tween the Taaibos/Highveld complexes became necessary and two parallel, single-circuit 275 kV transmission lines were constructed of which the first was completed in August 1956. Both lines were put into full use and carried its design level by 1959. On 21 January 1960, disaster struck at the Coalbrook North Colliery of the Clydesdale Collier- ies Limited, the sole supplier of coal to Taaibos power station. Regarded as the worst disaster in South African mining history, 437 miners were trapped in the mine. This had a significant effect on the output of the station as Taaibos was burn- Highveld Power Station ing 40 000 tons of coal per week prior to the disaster. The Taaibos boilers were designed to specifi- proved unsuccessful. Steps were taken to trans- cally burn the coal produced from the Vereeniging fer the load to other power stations and coal was coalfields and efforts to obtain coal from Witbank obtained from the South Colliery and Cornelia Col- liery near Vereeniging. After all hope of rescuing the trapped miners was abandoned, the South African Mine Workers’ Un- ion demanded that the government immediately investigate safety at Coalbrook and three other of South Africa’s principal coalmines. The ad hoc Mining Safety Committee demanded that all opera- tions at Coalbrook be halted. Rock falls and sag- ging of the ceiling of the eastern shaft of the Vier- fontein Colliery caused it to be shut down as well and the Mining Safety Committee forced the south section to suspend all work pending a safety in- spection. Rescue workers at Coalbrook Colliery On 13 March 1960, Escom had no choice but to reduce 20% in supplies to 20 goldmines.

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